


The New Edition of An Old Book

by cosmictrap



Category: New Girl
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 00:38:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13112040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmictrap/pseuds/cosmictrap
Summary: Sam leaves Jess, but not before dropping the "It's Nick" bomb on her. She's confused and sad, choosing not to tell anyone about it to ensure that Schmidt and Cece's wedding day would be about them & no one else. She grieves the way she usually does, but what happens when Nick happens to see it & starts asking her questions she does not want to answer. At all.





	The New Edition of An Old Book

**Author's Note:**

> Well, let's just say that I had reallyyyyy wished for this to happen ~OneShot~
> 
> In this version, Jess chooses not to tell anyone that Sam had broken up with her because she's afraid of the questions it will bring up and she's not sure if she wants to talk about it. So no one knows that Sam and Jess are broken up. This is after Sam's left and the TA Game is over and everyone's gone to bed...

It was nearly 2 a.m. in the morning. Nick felt his eyes flutter open from a disturbed sleep. Schmidt and Cece's wedding had taken a toll on him and he was exhausted. Working so close with Jess had been the only upside to this (aside from his bestfriend getting married to his other bestfriend's bestfriend, of course). He had been feeling so distant from her lately, but the wedding had definitely brought them closer. He lay in bed, thoughtful for a while, before he felt an itch in his throat. He sighed to himself as he swung his legs off the bed; all that alcohol and lack of water had probably dehydrated him.

He left his room, opening and closing the door behind him quietly, and tiptoed to the kitchen when he noticed the dimly flashing light in the dark. He realized someone was in the living area and as the TV came into full view, he recognized the film instantly. _Dirty Dancing._ He didn't have to guess who was on the couch.

_Dirty Dancing?_

He frowned. That was her breakup film, as far as common knowledge went. What was going on?

He contemplated whether or not to approach her, when his contemplation was interrupted by the softest of sniffles. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see the unmistakable glint of a wine bottle on the coffee table.

Perplexed, he walked to the couch quietly, peeking as stealthily as possible. Jess was curled to one side, facing the TV, staring at the screen while mouthing the lines. The coffee table was littered with tissues, and dustbin near the table was overflowing as well. She was watching the film on mute, and the only noise in the room were soft sniffles every once in a while, and a low muttering that Nick had to strain to comprehend; his strain proved useless as he didn't comprehend any of her words. He could see the heaving of her body as she cried silently, and felt overwhelmed by emotion and confusion. An empty wine glass was in her hand, which was hanging off the couch. He stood there, wondering if he should say something, or give her some space. If she'd wanted to talk about it, she wouldn't be sobbing in such secrecy, right? As he stood there, he realised that the movie was drawing to a close and if the sound was on, _Time of Our Life_ would be playing.

He could see her sob harder, grumbling a little louder, "Stupid, Dr. Sam Know-It-All Sweeney."

Nick's heart sank. _What had Sam done?_

Had he broken up with her a day before the wedding?!

He started to get angry. He hadn't pegged Sam to be that kind of a guy! As he heard her cry, he decided against going back to his room. Instead, he went to the kitchen area and grabbed a beer bottle before going around the couch and sitting by her feet quietly. He sensed her tensing as she stopped crying and raised her head to meet his eyes. Wordlessly, she lowered her head again, pulling her legs closer to herself, out of contact with Nick.

Her mind was a flurry of emotions, and the last thing she needed right now was heart-to-heart talk with Nick.

_Nick._

_It's Nick,_ Sam had said. _Stupid Sam_ , she thought irritably. The Nick chapter... that _book,_ in fact, had closed long ago. It was as if Sam had published a new edition that she wanted to buy real bad, but knew that she already had that book, had read it and even knew how it ended. So what was the point.

_What was the point._

Ugh. Ugh, ugh. So she was indeed tempted to buy that book.

_Nope._

She thought.

_You know how that book ends._

She started to cry again, and picked up her remote to restart the film.

Nick said nothing, for a while, at least and neither did Jess. But after half an hour of mute _Dirty_ _Dancing,_ nearly incessant sniffling and tears, Nick sighed. "Jess, what-"

"I really, _really_ don't want to talk about it, Nick," sniffled Jess.

"Jessica Day doesn't want to talk about _feelings_?" asked Nick, eyebrows raised, half joking, hoping to elicit a laugh out of Jess.

Jess said nothing, and continued to stare at the TV. She reached out for the wine bottle to refill her wine glass. Nick reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, concerned. "Jess, what happened?"

She widened her eyes and swatted his hand away. "Nothing!"

Nick looked at her skeptically.

Jess sighed. "I don't want to talk about it right now, Nick. Please just leave me alone."

Nick leaned back, thoroughly perplexed, but didn't leave the room. Jess never shied away from talking about her feelings or whatever was going on with her. His concern only increased as she finished her second pack of tissues and started to watch _Dirty Dancing_ for the third time.

"Jess, come on. You need to get some sleep," said Nick, yawning, starting to get up.

Ignoring him, she started to pour more wine into her glass when Nick wrenched the bottle from her. "Nu-uh. You've had enough for today."

"Don't tell me what to do, Miller," she grumbled, slurring slightly.

Nick rolled his eyes. "I bet Cece won't take it very well if you dozed during the toast or her vows or... anything. And worse, if you were hungover."

She pouted thoughtfully for a moment before he heard her sigh in defeat. "Fine. For Cece."

She got up and grabbed her pillows and blanket, struggling to gather all of them. "Let me help," sighed Nick, starting to lean towards the pillows.

Jess blocked him. "No. No, I can do it myself. I don't need your help, no sir!"

As she tried to grab everything and started to head towards her bedroom, she tripped over the hem of the blanket and crashed on to the wooden floor.

"Jess! Are you alright?" asked Nick, rushing to her side.

Jess groaned. "I'm good... gooodddd... I'm good."

"Let me help you up," said Nick, starting to pick her up.

She resisted. "No! I don't need to be picked up. I am lying down here on purpose... I love this floor," she said, starting to brush her arms on the floor. "I'm going to sleep right here."

Ignoring her, Nick picked her up, hands under her knees, firmly planted across them.

"Niiick!" exclaimed Jess, swatting his chest. "Put me down!"

He did put her down, but not until they got to her bed. And then, he paused for a moment before bending down, hands on the knees.

"Well, that was a lot tougher than the last time," he chuckled breathlessly.

"You're getting old, Miller," said Jess, yawning.

Nick laughed quietly, and wondered if he should prod further, but she did seem alright now. Maybe he could wait till tomorrow morning before asking her again, when she might be in a better mood. As he contemplated his next plan of action, he caught her eyes. She was looking at him in a sort of daze, and as he watched, her eyes glazed over with tears and she buried her face in her pillow, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"Good night, Nick," she mumbled, into the pillow.

Nick headed to her and hovered near her bed hesitantly. Then he sat down it, swinging his legs up leaning against the headboard. Damn, he'd missed this. It'd been so long since he'd sat on her bed, it still smelled like her - strawberries and fresh laundry. A wave of uncalled for nostalgia swept over him as he remembered the times he would wake up in this room, and just lay there staring at her sleeping form. Such uncomplicated days... A different chapter. A closed chapter. He sighed in remembrance.

Jess shifted in her bed and peeked at him through her bangs, slightly tense and very aware of the fact that he was sitting on her bed again.

"Jess you know you can talk to me, right? Despite everyth-"

"I know, Nick. I know I can. Just... Not right now," she cut him off, knowing where this was going. It was turning the pages of the sequel straight back into the prequel where she really didn't want to go at the moment.

Nick nodded. "Would it help if... if I gave you a feelings' stick?"

Jess stared at him, and could see the stubbornness start to set in. She knew she'd have to give him _something._ "Sam and I broke up," she muttered.

Nick widened his eyes, feigning surprise. "Oh! Who would've guessed! What could possibly have given it away? The _Dirty Dancing_ , the pink wine and the flood of tissues littering the living area," said Nick, adding "Schmidt will have your head for that tomorrow, just by the way."

She grimaced in response. "If you already know, what're you bugging the hell out of me for?" she grumbled, knowing full well what he was asking, and completely unsure if she wanted to give him what he wanted.

"Ugh, forget it. I've tried to talk, Jessica. About _feelings_ like you always wanted, but..." said Nick exasperated, standing up, "You won't tell me, fine. Don't _lie_ to me about it; I feel insulted. I _know_ there's more."

She sat up on her bed, crossing her legs, angry. "Well, yes. Yes, there is. He left me for his bestfriend, Diane. He been in love with her, but had not held out hope about ever being _with_ her. I found out she loved him too, and being the hopeless romantic that I am, I told him. He left, so he could _do_ something about it."

Nick sat back down again, next to her, softening immediately. "Oh... Jess, I am so sorry."

"And I didn't want to talk about it because... well, it's Schmidt and Cece's day. It's their chance to shine and thunder all over the place. I cannot... _will not_ take that away from them."

He wanted to feel angry at Sam, but the first thought that came to his mind was Sam was lucky that his bestfriend loved him back.

_The lucky bastard._

He thought over what he just thought...

 _...bestfriend loved him_ _**back**_...

_Nope, don't go there. Don't._

Shaking off that thought, he focused on Jess again. Tears began to fall down her cheeks, and she had that little frown she got when she was debating whether or not to say something. "Say it," he said quietly.

"What?" she looked at him, startled, wiping the tears off with her sleeve.

"I can tell there's still something you're not telling me," he said, pointing between his own eyebrows.

Jess reflexively reached out the area between her brows, and felt the telltale frown she had unconsciously formed.

_Damn you, Nick Miller._

She smoothed it out and looked at him. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said indignantly.

Nick refused to back down as well. "I'm sure you do."

They argued for a while, hurling accusations at each other until Nick grabbed her shoulders and said loudly, "What happened to you, Jess!"

Jess paused mid-sentence startled. "What?"

He let go of her, and ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. "You were an open book, Jess! You've become so difficult to read! I love that you wear your heart on your sleeve. It was something I could never do! What changed!"

Jess gulped. "I... I don't..." she started to fumble. "A broken relationship can do that to people, Nick. Especially one that was filled with meaning, passion and... happiness." she said at last.

Both of them stared at each other; both of them knew she wasn't talking about Sam. Jess broke away eye contact first, and Nick continued to stare at her, unsure of how to respond to her. He shook his head, and started to leave her room.

As she looked at him leave, all confused and befuddled at the sudden word splurge, she started to feel guilty. It was nearly 4 in the morning, and if she needed at least 4 hours of sleep to be fully functional for Cece and Schmidt's wedding. She wanted to put the whole thing to rest, and just enjoy the wedding the next day. She went after him and sighed, and rubbing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers.

"He also left because he thought I was still in love with you."

Nick froze. _What? Could that even..._

He turned around to look at her, and they both stood in the middle of the hallway between both their rooms staring at each other.

"There. That's all there is to say, Nick. Now can we please both go to bed, forget this horrid night and be happy for our friends, tomorrow?" she asked, gently pushing him. He'd barely taken a step back, when his eyes came back into focus and he backed away from her touch, staring at her. "Do you?"

She smiled sadly. "Does it matter?"

It was so sudden, she did not see it coming. In a swift, fluid movement, he had her against the wall next to her bedroom door, his hands on either side of her face.

"It does matter, Jessica. It sure as hell does."

Their faces were inches apart from each others, and she saw a familiar intensity in his brown eyes. She gulped, her breath hitching.

"I- I can't..." she started, but trailed away, unable to look away from his face.

"Why can't you?" he breathed.

"Because... we... the last time.. I..."

She closed her eyes, unable to say anything else, and the second her eyes closed, she felt his hands entwine around her hips and hardly a split second later, his lips on hers and the familiar gentleness overwhelmed her, and before her brain could scream at her to back away, she was kissing him back, her hands around his neck. It was still the same, kissing him. It was like nothing had changed... It was as if they had been doing this everyday since _that day_... As if they hadn't been broken up for two years now... It still felt like they were kissing for the first time.

As they kissed, she wrapped her legs around him and they blindly staggered into Jess' room, all the pent up energy and repressed emotions pouring into that kiss. As they hit the bed, they broke apart for air, gasping and breathing heavily. Nick was smiling, and Jess' eyes were wide, pleasantly surprised at the turn of events.

"So I'm guessing you don't have date for the wedding tomorrow?" asked Nick.

Jess laughed. "No, not anymore. I was thinking of asking the best man," she said playfully.

"I am sure the best man would love nothing more," he said, leaning in to kiss her.

* * *

**Another version of the same concept -[Thank You, Stupid Sam](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13111998)**

**Author's Note:**

> Ha, I suppose some dreams will remain dreams. Anyway, I really wish this had happened. I might just write another version of literally the same thing, where no one finds out till the next day, i.e, the Schmece Wedding Day. I am excited about that too, and I wish that'd happened at least. Damn, Wedding Storylines have SO MUCH POTENTIAL. xD
> 
> Leave reviews, please thankssssss. ;)


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